New UCLA coach Bob Chesney is determined to turn around the long-middling football program.
Chesney pretty much only knows how to win, considering he has eight conference championships to his name, including six in the last seven years, as well as a 132-52 career record. So it's no surprise that he is not content with UCLA taking the long road back to championship contention.
“We need to believe really strongly in the power of UCLA,” Chesney said, via On3's Pete Nakos. “We don’t need to play second fiddle to anyone. We don’t need to say, ‘Hey, maybe in three, four or five years from now.' I don’t want us to do any of that. The moment is in front of us directly, and to not limit ourselves in any way. Just chase this as hard as we possibly can, and do not, for one second, start putting timelines on it or making excuses before the fact.
“Let’s just chase this as hard as we can and do everything we possibly can to make this the greatest place in the world to play football and let the chips fall where they may.”
New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney tells @PeteNakos that the Bruins aren't waiting around🐻
"We need to believe really strongly in the power of UCLA. We don't need to play second fiddle to anyone. We don't need to say, 'Hey, maybe in three, four or five years from now.' I don't… pic.twitter.com/2pcDPO7vP3
— On3 (@On3) March 10, 2026
UCLA, once upon a time, was ambitious and a true contender. In addition to a national title in 1954, the Bruins won conference championships in every decade from the 1930s through the 1990s.
However, the program has fallen on hard times in the 21st century. Since its last conference title in 1998, UCLA has won 10 or more games only three times, has not made it to a BCS or New Year's Six bowl, and has hired six head coaches, including Chesney.
Chesney's background is much different. He comes from James Madison, where he went 21-6 and made it into the College Football Playoff (CFP) this past season after going undefeated in the Sun Belt. Before JMU, he spent six seasons at Holy Cross, with which he won five Patriot League championships and made four trips to the playoffs.
A graduate of Division III Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, Chesney began his head coaching career at Salve Regina, a D3 school in Rhode Island. There, he went 23-9 and caught the attention of Assumption, which hired him to lead its D2 program. With the Greyhounds, Chesney went 44-16 in five years, during which they went to the playoffs three times.
The Chesney era at UCLA will begin in earnest on Sept. 5, when the Bruins visit Berkley to take on Cal.
